Led by Scot Gemmill, the under-17s are aiming to secure their place at the UEFA European Under-17 Championship Finals in Croatia for the fourth consecutive year.

Ranked sixth best in the Europe, Scotland will compete against Serbia, Montenegro and Switzerland in the Elite Round mini-tournament with Cappielow Park and the Paisley 2021 Stadium hosting the fixtures.

The group is one of eight being played around Europe with the winners qualifying for this year’s finals and the seven best runners-up also progressing to the final tournament which takes place in May.

This season’s finals take on added significance as they act as a qualifying round for the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup to be held in India in October.

Scotland will take on Montenegro at the Paisley 2021 Stadium in their opening Elite Round match this Friday night (17 March, kick-off 7.30pm), before facing Serbia at the same venue two days laterm kick-off 3pm.

They return to Paisley on Wednesday 22 March where they will finish off their finals bid with a match against Switzerland, kick-off 5pm.

Scotland are in form at the moment, defeating reigning under-17 champions Portugal to qualify for the elite round back in September, earning a place as one of the top seeds and securing themselves as the sixth best team in Europe based on performances over the last three seasons.

Ahead of the matches, head coach Scot Gemmill stressed the importance of the forthcoming games and said: “This is definitely the most important week of the season for the players as they have worked very hard to get themselves into this position.

“A lot of countries don’t manage to get to this stage and it’s important the players realise how important it is.

“Playing at home will be a boost for us. The last time we played an Elite Round in Scotland we qualified so it’s worked in the past.

“This is a great group of players who are playing at a high level at their clubs and they’ve shown they can compete against the best on an international stage so it’s up to us to keep up those high levels of performance.”

Entry to all matches is FREE* (gates open one hour prior to kick-off).